CHAPTER XVACATION TIME

CHAPTER XVACATION TIMEJune’s a name we like to hear;Glad vacation’s drawing near;Good-bye, good-bye, lesson books;Welcome fields and merry brooks;All our lessons now are over;See the fields of nodding clover.The Ink-Bottle Babies gladly cry,“’Tis vacation time, good-bye, good-bye!”

June’s a name we like to hear;Glad vacation’s drawing near;Good-bye, good-bye, lesson books;Welcome fields and merry brooks;All our lessons now are over;See the fields of nodding clover.The Ink-Bottle Babies gladly cry,“’Tis vacation time, good-bye, good-bye!”

June’s a name we like to hear;

Glad vacation’s drawing near;

Good-bye, good-bye, lesson books;

Welcome fields and merry brooks;

All our lessons now are over;

See the fields of nodding clover.

The Ink-Bottle Babies gladly cry,

“’Tis vacation time, good-bye, good-bye!”

“Hurrah!” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies, “hurrah! hurrah! it is glad vacation time!”

Then the Ink-Bottle Mamma said, “We will all go to the woods to-day.”

So the Babies were busy packing their twenty-five little dinner pails and they packed a basket of lunch for Ma and Pa.

They all started merrily toward the woods. Molly said, “Do you suppose we will find the house where the little dwarfs live?”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all clapped their hands and shouted, “Oh Ma! oh Pa! do help us find the little dwarfs!”

Then Mamma took out a red and white table cloth and spread it on the grass, and all the Ink-Bottle Babies began to unpack their dinner pails, and soon they had a fine dinner ready.

They filled their glasses with water from a spring, and just as they were going to sit down a little dwarf ran past them and called,

“When you take your meal at noon,You should use the magic spoon!”

“When you take your meal at noon,

You should use the magic spoon!”

“They filled their glasses with water from a spring”

Then the little dwarf took the magic spoon and dipped it into every glass of water, and the water turned at once into lemonade.

They lookedaround to thank the little dwarf, but he was gone!

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “We must find the house where the little dwarfs live!”

After a while the Ink-Bottle Mamma and Papa got tired and went home. They left the Babies in the woods for a while.

The Babies were so sleepy they took quite a nap, and when they woke up they said, “Let us look for the home of the little dwarfs.” They spoke in whispers; they were almost afraid to speak out loud.

They picked up their dinner pails and walked a long way. Suddenly they saw a light twinkling in the distance. The light came from a little wee house in the woods. One of the Babies rapped at the door and a little dwarf came out and said,

“We have bedrooms five and twenty,And of food we have a plenty;Kindly step in, please, to-night,By this ray of candlelight!”

“We have bedrooms five and twenty,

And of food we have a plenty;

Kindly step in, please, to-night,

By this ray of candlelight!”

The Ink-Bottle Babies stepped inside, and they saw five and twenty little dwarfs sitting at a table, eating soup with their five and twenty little spoons. The little dwarfs got up politely and offered their seats to the Babies and they sang,

“Ink-Bottle Babies, ’tis very fine,With the magic pitcher at last to dine.”

“Ink-Bottle Babies, ’tis very fine,

With the magic pitcher at last to dine.”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies started to eat some soup, but one little dwarf ran around and poured something into each soup dish out of the magic pitcher. One plate of soup was changed to jelly and one plate was changed to ice cream and so it went all round the table!

The Babies shouted, “Hurrah! for the magic pitcher,” and they laughed until they cried!

Then they all sat down in a circle and they told stories and one little dwarf cried,

“I am so hungry to-night, ho! ho!Where did the magic spoon chance to go?”

“I am so hungry to-night, ho! ho!

Where did the magic spoon chance to go?”

The little dwarfs all shook their heads sadly. Then what do you suppose happened? The Ink-Bottle Babies all rose and began to dance and cry,

“We know who has the magic spoon,A little dwarf we met this noon!”

“We know who has the magic spoon,

A little dwarf we met this noon!”

“Whirling a great spoon”

Then all the dwarfs put on their fuzzy coats and their fuzzy caps, and they said,

“Follow the leader, every one,Follow along till rise of sun!”

“Follow the leader, every one,

Follow along till rise of sun!”

Then the dwarfs went out of the door, two and two, and the Ink-Bottle Babies did not know what else to do, so they followed them.

They ran along up hill and down dale until they came to a valley.

Then their leader called, “Hark! Listen! Hark!” They looked down in a valley and they saw a little dwarf, dancing and singing.

The little dwarf was whirling a great spoon in the air. He sang,

“Be it morning, night or noon,No one knows I’ve the magic spoon!”

“Be it morning, night or noon,

No one knows I’ve the magic spoon!”

Then the little dwarfs rushed at him from one side, and the Babies rushed at him from the other side, and the magic spoon began to beat everybody, and at last they all ran back to the home of the little dwarfs. Where the magic spoon went nobody knew.

Then the five and twenty little dwarfs cried,

“We will not cry, we will not sigh,The magic spoon will soon pass by!”

“We will not cry, we will not sigh,

The magic spoon will soon pass by!”

Pretty soon the magic spoon came dancing along and said,

“I will go and hide upon your shelf,If you’ll let me go and help myself!”

“I will go and hide upon your shelf,

If you’ll let me go and help myself!”

The dwarfs replied,

“Oh magic spoon, ’tis very clearTo every one, you’re welcome here.”

“Oh magic spoon, ’tis very clear

To every one, you’re welcome here.”

The magic spoon was so pleased then that it began to stir the river that flowed by the little dwarfs’ home, and the river became solid gold!

The little dwarfs sang,

“Ha! ha! ha! when we are old,We shall never want for gold!”

“Ha! ha! ha! when we are old,

We shall never want for gold!”

Then they ran and got five and twenty little bags, and they began to break up the gold in the river and fill their bags. Still there was more gold than the little dwarfs could carry away.

At last the little dwarfs were done working and the Ink-Bottle Babies were tired and sleepy and they said, “Tell us a story, please.”

Then one little dwarf told this story:

Once upon a time there was a little dwarf who had a rocking-chair.

The rocking-chair was a pretty one; it had golden rockers and golden arms. It was a very comfortable rocking-chair! One day a dwarf got into the chair. He was a very naughty dwarf. He would not say, “Thank you,” and “If you please.”

Now, the chair took him for a ride and said,

“Say ‘thank you for this ride,’Or you will have to stay inside!”

“Say ‘thank you for this ride,’

Or you will have to stay inside!”

The naughty dwarf shook his head and cried,

“You’ll not teach me manners, I do declare,You funny little rocking-chair!”

“You’ll not teach me manners, I do declare,

You funny little rocking-chair!”

“Splash! the chair went right into the water”

The chair said,

“You may laugh and cry and even shout,Without ‘Thank you, Sir!’ you don’t get out!”

“You may laugh and cry and even shout,

Without ‘Thank you, Sir!’ you don’t get out!”

Then the dwarf began to laugh and cry and shout, for he was stuck fast in the rocking-chair, and he could not get out!

Now the chair was in earnest and it rocked as fast as it could down to a river and the dwarf cried,

“What are you about? What are you about?If we rock in there, we will never get out!”

“What are you about? What are you about?

If we rock in there, we will never get out!”

Splash! the chair went right into the water. It came up by and by and the little dwarf shouted,

“Thank you, thank you, please take me out,Thank you, thank you, I’ll laugh and shout!”

“Thank you, thank you, please take me out,

Thank you, thank you, I’ll laugh and shout!”

Then the chair took the dwarf out and set him on dry land.

Now as soon as the dwarf was free he would not say “Thank you,” again, and the chair said, “I will teach him a lesson this time.”

So the chair asked the little dwarf to take another ride, and he rocked him away, away, away up north to the land where the polar bear lives. Then he rocked him right into a snowdrift. The little dwarf nearly froze his toes and fingers, and the chair said,

“I’ll leave you in this drift of snow,For far away I soon will go!”

“I’ll leave you in this drift of snow,

For far away I soon will go!”

The dwarf was so scared at the idea of being left alone in the snowdrift that he said,

“I’ll say to you on bended knees,Thank you, sir, and if you please.”

“I’ll say to you on bended knees,

Thank you, sir, and if you please.”

Then the chair rocked the little dwarf safely home, and ever after he was so polite that if he even met a squirrel in the woods he would stop and say, “Excuse me, sir, am I disturbing you? Thank you, sir, I will come this way again, if you please!”

This was the end of the story and the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout as usual.

“What became of the magic rocking-chair?” they all shouted together.

Then they clapped their hands softly, for they saw something rocking toward them!

What do you suppose it was?

It was the magic rocking-chair!

Then the dwarf who had told the story said,

“Tell the chair where you want to go;Ride away, ride away, singing ho! ho!”

“Tell the chair where you want to go;

Ride away, ride away, singing ho! ho!”

Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all climbed into the rocking-chair, and they shouted as they waved their twenty-five little pocket handkerchiefs,

“We wave good-bye with backward looks;We will ride into the story books!”

“We wave good-bye with backward looks;

We will ride into the story books!”

The magic chair began to rock, and it rocked the Ink-Bottle Babies away, away, away, into the Land of Story Books.

If you use your eyes well, you may see the Ink-Bottle Babies some day!

Did they ever come out of the books? Did they ever come home again? I did not rememberto ask them any questions. Perhaps you will meet them in school.

“We wave good-bye”

The last I saw of them they were rocking away and they sang this song,

“Vacation time! Vacation time!’Tis an hour for song and rhyme;We are very happy, for what do you think?We all came out of a bottle of ink!The Ink-Bottle Babies in every clime,Cry, ‘Hurrah! hurrah! for vacation time!’”

“Vacation time! Vacation time!

’Tis an hour for song and rhyme;

We are very happy, for what do you think?

We all came out of a bottle of ink!

The Ink-Bottle Babies in every clime,

Cry, ‘Hurrah! hurrah! for vacation time!’”

Fairy Tales of Long AgoBy Julia Darrow CowlesGrades 3-4Cloth Binding128 PagesColored IllustrationsPrice, 60 Cents a Copy, PostpaidTrain a child’s imagination by feeding it with the fancies of great story-tellers, is a truism familiar to all teachers. There is nothing like the old fairy tales for nourishing young imaginations. This group of tales Mrs. Cowles has gathered from many sources and retold in charming fashion. That they have gained, rather than lost, by the retelling, will soon become apparent to teachers; for only the simplest words and phrases are used, and the narrative is so handled as to emphasize the homely lesson in manners or morals concealed in the story.These tales are full of action and delicious nonsense which accord with the child’s mode of living and thinking. Besides teaching the children to read, and furnishing them with much fine entertainment, these stories inculcate lessons in good-fellowship, usefulness, politeness, and agreeable wholesome living.The volume comprises fifteen stories, five of which are dramatized for schoolroom use.CONTENTSThe NightingaleThe Six SwansBruno’s PicnicOle Shut-EyesInger’s LoafSouthwest Wind EsquireThe Three LemonsThe Twelve MonthsA Mad Tea PartyThe Enchanted MeadThe White CatThe Ugly DucklingThe Miller’s DaughterProfessor Frog’s LectureThe Spring in the ValleyA. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGOThe Children of Mother GooseBy JULIA DARROW COWLESFor Grades Two and ThreeIllustrations in Colors128 Pages Cloth BindingPrice, 60 Cents a Copy, PostpaidTHE CHILDREN OF MOTHER GOOSE“I wonder which goose gave it to me”“Oh, Mother Goose,” they all cried, “your goose has laid a golden egg!”“Why, sure enough,” said Mother Goose. “That must be my Easter present. I wonder which goose gave it to me!”Then Simple Simon waved his hand just as though he were in school, and said, “It was Jack-A-Dandy. I saw him put it in the nest!”Specimen PageMany a young reader longs to know more about his favorite characters in Mother Goose—more than the short rhyme about each is able to tell him. In this collection of miniature stories, he has his wish gratified. Here he gets intimate glimpses of the home and community life of many old friends: Mistress Mary, Boy Blue, Peter Piper, Curly Locks, Crosspatch, Simple Simon, Jack and Jill, Tommy Tinker, Bobby Shaftoe, and a host of others.It appears that the Mother Goose children are a healthy, fun-loving, workaday lot of youngsters, exactly like the boys and girls who read about them. They attend Dame Trot’s school. They give tea parties and Valentine parties. They take care of the babies of the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe. They help the Crooked Man build himself a new chimney. Dr. Foster takes them walking in the woods and teaches them things about insects and spiders which every child is simply aching to know. Mother Goose herself presides delightfully over their revels.Teachers will find these stories valuable for inculcating a love of reading in the child; first, because they are intrinsically fascinating, and second, because they quicken his mental powers by a shrewd application of some lesson in daily living.A. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGOThe Circus Cotton-TailsByLAURA ROUNTREE SMITHIllustrated by Fred Stearns“Please tell us a laughing story,” pleaded a group of tenement children at the Settlement story hour.All children laugh when they read “The Circus Cotton-Tails” and how the merry little bunnies diligently practice their circus tricks while mischievous Bushy-Tail plays his tricks—whirling them off the merry-go-round, and stealing Susan Cotton-Tail’s cookies. How the cookies become alive and punish Bushy-Tail satisfies the little folk’s sense of justice. And they delight in the description of the big circus parade, and in the colored frontispiece and end sheets, to say nothing of the many fascinating black and white illustrations.128 pages. Cloth, 60 centsA. FLANAGAN COMPANYCHICAGOJUST STORIESBYANNIE KLINGENSMITHAssistant Superintendent of Schools, Gary, IndianaAUTHOR OF“Household Stories” and “Norse Gods and Heroes”In “Just Stories” Miss Klingensmith has selected and adapted from the best in children’s literature more than thirty of the stories she considers especially needed in work with children in the third and fourth grades. They were originally printed as leaflets by Gary pupils and aroused an enthusiasm that demanded their continued existence. The illustrations are exceptionally good, and with the large, clear type, good paper, and durable binding, “Just Stories” is an unusually attractive book.128 Pages—IllustratedCloth—60 Cents“‘WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?’ SAID THE LION”(Illustration from “Benjy in Beastland”—one of the stories.)

Fairy Tales of Long Ago

By Julia Darrow Cowles

Price, 60 Cents a Copy, Postpaid

Train a child’s imagination by feeding it with the fancies of great story-tellers, is a truism familiar to all teachers. There is nothing like the old fairy tales for nourishing young imaginations. This group of tales Mrs. Cowles has gathered from many sources and retold in charming fashion. That they have gained, rather than lost, by the retelling, will soon become apparent to teachers; for only the simplest words and phrases are used, and the narrative is so handled as to emphasize the homely lesson in manners or morals concealed in the story.

These tales are full of action and delicious nonsense which accord with the child’s mode of living and thinking. Besides teaching the children to read, and furnishing them with much fine entertainment, these stories inculcate lessons in good-fellowship, usefulness, politeness, and agreeable wholesome living.

The volume comprises fifteen stories, five of which are dramatized for schoolroom use.

CONTENTSThe NightingaleThe Six SwansBruno’s PicnicOle Shut-EyesInger’s LoafSouthwest Wind EsquireThe Three LemonsThe Twelve MonthsA Mad Tea PartyThe Enchanted MeadThe White CatThe Ugly DucklingThe Miller’s DaughterProfessor Frog’s LectureThe Spring in the Valley

CONTENTS

The NightingaleThe Six SwansBruno’s PicnicOle Shut-EyesInger’s LoafSouthwest Wind EsquireThe Three LemonsThe Twelve MonthsA Mad Tea PartyThe Enchanted MeadThe White CatThe Ugly DucklingThe Miller’s DaughterProfessor Frog’s LectureThe Spring in the Valley

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO

The Children of Mother Goose

By JULIA DARROW COWLES

For Grades Two and Three

Illustrations in Colors

128 Pages Cloth Binding

Price, 60 Cents a Copy, Postpaid

THE CHILDREN OF MOTHER GOOSE“I wonder which goose gave it to me”“Oh, Mother Goose,” they all cried, “your goose has laid a golden egg!”“Why, sure enough,” said Mother Goose. “That must be my Easter present. I wonder which goose gave it to me!”Then Simple Simon waved his hand just as though he were in school, and said, “It was Jack-A-Dandy. I saw him put it in the nest!”Specimen Page

THE CHILDREN OF MOTHER GOOSE

“I wonder which goose gave it to me”

“Oh, Mother Goose,” they all cried, “your goose has laid a golden egg!”

“Why, sure enough,” said Mother Goose. “That must be my Easter present. I wonder which goose gave it to me!”

Then Simple Simon waved his hand just as though he were in school, and said, “It was Jack-A-Dandy. I saw him put it in the nest!”

Specimen Page

Many a young reader longs to know more about his favorite characters in Mother Goose—more than the short rhyme about each is able to tell him. In this collection of miniature stories, he has his wish gratified. Here he gets intimate glimpses of the home and community life of many old friends: Mistress Mary, Boy Blue, Peter Piper, Curly Locks, Crosspatch, Simple Simon, Jack and Jill, Tommy Tinker, Bobby Shaftoe, and a host of others.

It appears that the Mother Goose children are a healthy, fun-loving, workaday lot of youngsters, exactly like the boys and girls who read about them. They attend Dame Trot’s school. They give tea parties and Valentine parties. They take care of the babies of the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe. They help the Crooked Man build himself a new chimney. Dr. Foster takes them walking in the woods and teaches them things about insects and spiders which every child is simply aching to know. Mother Goose herself presides delightfully over their revels.

Teachers will find these stories valuable for inculcating a love of reading in the child; first, because they are intrinsically fascinating, and second, because they quicken his mental powers by a shrewd application of some lesson in daily living.

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY—CHICAGO

The Circus Cotton-Tails

ByLAURA ROUNTREE SMITH

Illustrated by Fred Stearns

“Please tell us a laughing story,” pleaded a group of tenement children at the Settlement story hour.

All children laugh when they read “The Circus Cotton-Tails” and how the merry little bunnies diligently practice their circus tricks while mischievous Bushy-Tail plays his tricks—whirling them off the merry-go-round, and stealing Susan Cotton-Tail’s cookies. How the cookies become alive and punish Bushy-Tail satisfies the little folk’s sense of justice. And they delight in the description of the big circus parade, and in the colored frontispiece and end sheets, to say nothing of the many fascinating black and white illustrations.

128 pages. Cloth, 60 cents

A. FLANAGAN COMPANYCHICAGO

JUST STORIES

BYANNIE KLINGENSMITH

Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Gary, Indiana

AUTHOR OF“Household Stories” and “Norse Gods and Heroes”

In “Just Stories” Miss Klingensmith has selected and adapted from the best in children’s literature more than thirty of the stories she considers especially needed in work with children in the third and fourth grades. They were originally printed as leaflets by Gary pupils and aroused an enthusiasm that demanded their continued existence. The illustrations are exceptionally good, and with the large, clear type, good paper, and durable binding, “Just Stories” is an unusually attractive book.

128 Pages—IllustratedCloth—60 Cents

“‘WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?’ SAID THE LION”(Illustration from “Benjy in Beastland”—one of the stories.)

“‘WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?’ SAID THE LION”

(Illustration from “Benjy in Beastland”—one of the stories.)

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